Class summary: Thursday, 30 Jan

• Speaking: Presenting a NGO
• Writing: Exercises about formal letters
• Listening, Reading, Use of English and Listening practice for C1 exams
• Homework: Writing a formal letter presenting the NGO, vocabulary exercises

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Class summary: Tuesday 28 Jan

• Discussion of To Kill a Mockingbird
• Listening: Atticus Finch’s speech at court
• Homework: Formal letters

To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) is one of the best-loved novels of American literature. It was authored by Harper Lee, who stopped writing after publishing it: it is, therefore, one of those strange cases in literature (like Salinger or Juan Rulfo) in which a writer says everything he or she has to say in just one or two books. The film adaptation ws made in 1962, directed by Robert Mulligan, and it includes the greatest performance by Gregory Peck (he was awarded an Oscar), in the character of Atticus Finch, a lawyer and widower with two children who awakes love and admiration in everyone who watches the film.

Both the book -which I also heartily recommend- and the film are used very often in American colleges as sources for discussion and analysis. Here you have a PDF with the questions we will debate on Tuesday.

I personally consider the movie one of my favourites of all time, along with poetic black and white classics such as the Apu Trilogy by Satyajit Ray, La Grande Illusion by Jean Renoir, Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa, and The Man who Shot Liberty Valance by John Ford. Real art in cinematic form. Hope you like it as much as I do.

Class summary: Thursday 23 January

• Listening: Watch the film To Kill a Mockingbird

Class summary: Tuesday 21 January

• Grammar and speaking: Using modal verbs in oral interaction, advice, regret, speculating about people and situations
• Listening; people talking about advice
• Pronunciation: A poem by Lewis Carroll

Class summary, Thursday 16 January

• Speaking: discussing judicial and other difficult cases; reaching a consensus
• Grammar: Modal verbs
• Vocabulary: judicial terms

Class summary: Tuesday, 14th January

• Discussion on Mandela’s Way

Class summary: Thursday, 9th January

• Ice-breaker: Talking about holidays
• Listening: documentary about the Atlantic salve traffic and clip about Apartheid
• Preparing activities about Mandela’s Way
• Vocabulary: Crime and punishment, the law.

A biography of Mandela

As we said in class, here is the link to the first part (there are five) of the bio documentary about Mandela. Open the link in youtube and you will be directed to the following four parts.